Grant g



(No Model.)

G.- G; G. GIST. GAME APPARATUS-,

No. 488,762. Patented Dog. 27 1892'.

INVENTOR:

Attorney.

WITNESSES:

trans 00.. PNOTO-LITHO, wnsmraomu n c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GRANT G. G. GIST, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR TO MGLOUGI-ILIN BROTHERS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 488,762, dated December 27, 1892.

Application filed June 4, 1892. Serial No. 436,541. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GRANT G. G. GIST, a citi zen of the United States, and a resident of Wilmington, in the county of New Castle and State of Delaware, have invented an Improved Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the general class of parlor games employing a board and a piece or pieces to be shifted about over the board. Usually the game will be played by two or more contesting players, and usually the player who makes the highest number of counts in a stipulated number of plays, wins the game. Success in playing the game depends mainly on skill, but the element of chance enters into it to an extent sufficient to lend interest to the game even when a player is unskilled.

The game apparatus comprises, as one of its features, a normally stiff, resilient board, preferably of pasteboard, on which the piece may be made to bound about by striking the under side of the board with a mallet grasped in the hand. This board will have in it, lodging points, in the form of recesses or holes arranged in a somewhat regular manner, and these points or holes will be marked with numbers or characters to indicate the amount of gain or loss to the player arising from getting his piece in the hole. The board will be raised on supports so as to stand clear in order that the resiliency of the board may not be interfered with and in order that the pieces, in bounding about, may not leave the board, the latter will, by preference, have a raised marginal rim. I prefer to make the piece or pieces each of two materials of different specific gravities, as light wood and lead. The upper or principal part of the piece may have the figure of a man, or some resemblance thereto and be of wood or other light material, and the base may be rounded or hemispherical and be of lead. A piece of this kind will right itself and assume an erect position when it falls after bounding over the board.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the board, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same in the plane indicated by line 2, 2, in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents one of the pieces, of the preferred construction. Fig. 4 represents a mallet which may be used in playing the game.

a is the game board, made of comparatively thin material, having marked in its surface starting points or spaces 1), called by preference bob spaces from which the piece or bob starts, and holes 0, placed at intervals in its surface.

dis the piece or bob, of which there may be one or more. The board will have supports to raise it clear of the table or floor on which it is placed, and these may be legs a The players may each be provided with a mallet e, although this implement is not essential in playing the game.

As herein shown the board a is rectangular or square, supported at its corners on the legs a and has an elevated marginal rim a. Drawn or printed on its surface is a system of concentric circles, with lines forming squares, and the starting points or bob spaces b, of which there are four, are arranged at the corners of the board. One of the holes 0, is at the center of the board, and the other holes are distributed in a regular manner over the surface of the board. Each hole 0, is marked with anumeral which indicates either gain or loss in the play, and each hole will also be marked with either the word gain or loss in the drawings the initials, G and L, of these two words are generally employed. There will be two pieces 01, by'preference, but there may be one or more. This piece will, by preference, have the shape represented in Fig. 3 and be in the main of light wood provided with a rounded base (d in Fig. 3), of lead or like heavy material which is adapted 0 to right itself and maintain an upright posi tion even though it may fall on its side in playing the game.

The game may be played as follows: The player who has the first turn sets a piece or bob d on his bob space I), and with his mallet e strikes the underside of the board, below the piece, or at any point his judgment dictates. His object is to cause the piece to bound or jump over the board toward the I00 center thereof and to lodge in one of the'holes a marked G or gain. If he succeeds, he

counts as gain Whatever number is marked adjacent to that hole, and proceeds to play in a similar manner with a second piece. If his piece should lodge in a hole marked L or loss he loses the amount indicated by the number marked adjacent to that hole. If he does not succeed in lodging his piece in a hole a at the first play, he plays the piece again from the point where it lodged, and continues to play it in this manner until it'is lodged in ahole. When apiece has been once lodged in a hole it is dead and although it may leave its hole and bound over the board in playing the second piece, its movements count as nothing. Of course, the primary object of' the player is to lodge his piece in the central hole 0, which counts him 25; but secondarily his object will be to avoid the losing holes and to lodge his piece in any gaining hole.

It would be possible to play the game by tapping the board on its upper or underside with the fingers or knuckles, but a mallet or light hammer will be more convenient. Supporting the board on legs, or the like, as shown, gives the player free access to its underside so that he maystrike it. at any point he pleases. The raised rim a serves to keep the pieces on the board.

The board a may be of oblong, circular, polygonal or other shape, and its surface may be made highly ornamental. The design shown in Fig. 1 need not be followed, and the number of holes or lodging points 0 may be, varied. It is most convenient to use actual points 0, extending through the board, as the latter will be of thin material, but it is not essential that the holes shall extend entirely through the board; recesses of suitable depth will serve.

The object in making the piece (1 of two substances of different specific gravities is to better insure its lodging with the proper end upward, but the form of the piece may be varied, and it need not be made of two different substances. It may be made self-righting by making its base larger and therefore heavier than its upper art.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim- 1. A game apparatus comprising resilient board of stiff material, as pasteboard, raised on supports and having apertures in it forming lodging points for the piece, a piece or pieces, and a mallet e, whereby the player may reach under and strike the lower face of the board at any desired point, as set forth.

2. A game apparatus comprising a resilient board of stiff material, as pasteboard,raised on supports and having a series of apertures in it to form lodging points for the piece, a self-righting piece or pieces, and a mallet or the like for striking the under surface of the board, as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GRANT G. G. GIST.

Witnesses:

J. JACKSON Pnmon, EDWIN A. READ. 

